Apparatus for cleaning bottles and the like



Oct. 13, 1931. J. G. CUPEDO APPARATUS FOR CLEANING BOTTLES AND THE LIKE Filed NOV- 2, 1 2 2 Sheets-Sheet l Oct. 13, 1931. GJCUPEDO APPARATUS FOR CLEANING BOTTLES AND THE LIKE Fild Nov. 2. 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 .W w imlitilml A 0 n i I l? 1 I. I J

Patented Oct. 13, 1931 UNITED STATES.

PAT T OFFICE}.

JAN GnR RDUs ournno, on ROT'IERD'AM, NETHER'n nDs APPARATUS non CLEANING BOTTLES Ann THE- LIKE Application filed November 2, 1929, Serial No. 404,334, and in the Netherlands November 12, 1928.

The invention relatesto an apparatus for cleaning bottlesand thelike, comprising a number of drums, fixed to a common shaft and rotatably mounted in areceptacle, filled with a cleaning liquid, which drums are separated from each other by partitions, each being provided with a passage, while the bottles, which are supported within the drums by'radially placed blades when being conveyed from one drum to the next one, remain in thesame radial plane with respect to the drums.

The apparatus is so constructed that the bottles will lie with their sides in contact when passing through the passages, and due to this, the bottles will be successively conveyed from one drum to the other by the pressure of the succeeding bottles.

However, this known construction shows 20 many drawbacks. By applying solid blades not only the apparatus becomes very heavy but moreover the bottles are liable to breakage by the great pressure exerted on the bottles in shifting the same. Apart herefrom 5 it may occur that. if the bottles are not displaced sufficiently, some of them are caught between the rotating drums and the edges of the passages. Finally these kinds of apparatus are only adapted to clean bottles of one 0 single size, but are unsuitable for cleaning.

different kinds of bottles, such as conical, square, fiat bottles, etc. Y

The object of the invention is to improve the known apparatus and to obtain a light bottle washing machine, by which, owing to its construction, the breakage of the bottles is eliminated and which, moreover, is adapted to clean bottles of the most diverse kinds, without requiring a special adjustment of the apparatus. I

According to the invention, each drum is provided with radially outwardly extending comb-shaped members,,which at the passage 50 the partition. The comb-shaped members in the partitions between the drums cooperate with fingers, fixed to these partitions,

maybe formed as flat arms, provided with horizontal pins, parallel to the rotating shaft. 7 The accompanying drawings illustrate solely by way of example. an embodiment of the. apparatus according to the invention. 7 Fig. l is a perspective view of a drum with some of the comb-shaped members.-

Fig. 2 is a part of asectional. view of two drums with the partitions' placed between them. V i W V Fig. 3 is a section ofthe apparatus along the line IIIIII in Fig. 5. I

Fig. 4- is a side view of a supporting member with a bottle resting on it.

Fig. 5 is a. schematical front view of the apparatus, the casing being partly broken away. I. Each drum 1, which is fixedto the rotating shaft 3 by means of spokes 2,-is provided with radially outwardly extending comb-shaped 50 supporting members for the bottles. These supporting members may be formed as flat arms 4, provided with horizontal pins 5. I The shape ofthe arms 4; and the locations of the pins are such that a bottle-shaped space remains between the successive arms. 7

The drums, arranged'in this manner, are

fixed side by side to the shaft 3 and are separated from each other by partitions, while the drums vare surrounded by guiding strips-.7, so that, during rotation of the drums, the bottles are prevented from falling out of the radially directed compartments. r According to the illustrated embodiment, the partitions between the drums consist of concentric circular tubes 8, which are connected to separating-plates 10, near the passage 9.

Fingers l1,- adjustable if necessary, are fixed to the lower separating plate 10. These fingers extend into the path of movement of the cooperating drum and extend between the pins 5 fixed to the arms 4. I When the bottie, which rests on a supporting member 4, 95

has passed all the drums and is discharged out of the apparatus.

As nothing is left to chance and each bottle is forcedly and in the right position guided from one drum to the next one, it is a matter of course that the apparatus is suitable for cleaning many kinds of bottles.

Bottles of very different diameter may also be treated, Without the possibility that the bottles are untimely displaced through a passage to the next drum.

As the supporting pins 5 are placed horizontally the bottles Will not rub against the partitions, When rotating With a drum.

In order to elucidate the general arrange ment of the apparatus, a part of the casing is broken away in Fig. 5.

According to Figure 5 the apparatus con sists of three series of four drums, by Which each series operates in a separate fluid bath. The series are mutually separated by solid partitions, Whereas the drums of each series are separatedby partitions composed of tubes 8. These tubes are connected to a Water supply-pipe 12 and they are provided with perforations near the highest point. by which it becomes possible to squirt and clean the outside of the bottles.

I claim z In a bottle Washing machine, a receptacle adapted to contain liquid, a shaft rotatably journaled in the receptacle, a drum fixed to and rotatable With the shaft, said drum hav ing circumferential rows of bottle compartments formed by radially outwardly extending arms being fixed to the drum and provided with pins parallel to said shaft for supporting bottles, partitions separating the circumferential ro s of compartments, each.

partition having a passage therein, inclined fingers fixed to each partition adjacent the said passage and extending between the circular paths of the supporting pins for positively discharging the bottles supported by the pins through said passages successively from a compartment of one circumferential row of compartments to a compartment of the next roW.

In testimony whereof I ailix my signature.

JAN GERARDUS o'UPEDo. 

